A Great Deal of Bravery
by DaenerysTargary3n
Summary: When the battle's done and 2 months have passed since the Battle of Hogwarts, one Weasley Sunday dinner ends in erupting tempers and unforgivable words. Harry and Hermione must then live their own lives after parting with the family who 'adopted' them. (H/Hr; exaggerated Ginny, Molly and Ron; rated T for sexual imagery and language)
1. PROLOGUE

A Great Deal of Bravery

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 **Author's Note:** Firstly, I do not own plot, characters and miscellaneous details from _Harry Potter_. That joy and privilege belongs to Ms Rowling. Secondly, I hope you will excuse the Weasley bashing that occurs in this fiction, but after going on a bit of a Harry/Hermione and Hermione/Snape fanfiction spree this past fortnight, I had the idea - particularly relating to the former pairing - that the Weasleys are incredibly presumptuous when it comes to their 'adopted' children and I thought this story would be a good opportunity for me to explore a Harry/Hermione pairing story that goes against Weasley interference without character assassination or OOC Weasley bashing. Anyways, all will be made clear over the nine chapters that I've planned for this story and most importantly, I hope you enjoy it enough to leave some reviews, as quite honestly these are the only things that make my day!

Happy reading,

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

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" **It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends." ~** _ **Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**_

The saviour of the wizarding world was lost. He was truly lost in the castle he had learned to call home. While he wandered the halls of the battered building, he simply let his legs carry him wherever they went since his brain had resigned control over his body. Harry had no idea where his legs were taking him but in the wake of Voldemort's demise he had nowhere he had to be so was content to just walk.

"Harry? Harry, where are you going?"

The Boy Who Lived heard the voice call his name but somehow the words did not register. He knew it was Hermione's voice of eternal and unrelenting care that beckoned him away from his taciturnity but he could not force words of reply from his lips to answer his best friend. All his remaining energy went into putting one foot in front of the other.

As his journey continued he became aware of echoing footsteps from behind him, following him. He turned and looked at his pursuer but Hermione's battle-worn and scarred face bore no signs of irritation or anger at his unexplained trek through the castle but concern and the willingness to follow wherever he chose to go shone from every pore.

"Where are we going?" She asked, once he did not look away from her and begin his hike again.

"I don't know, 'Mione," Harry croaked hoarsely, "I just need to keep moving. If I'm moving…"

"If you're moving," Hermione continued with surety, "they can't find you to bother you."

Any other friend or acquaintance and her words would have been uttered as a question, but Hermione Granger, heralded as the brightest witch of the age, knew him so well that there was no doubt in her statement. She had followed him without faltering once in all the seven years they knew each other, a feat no other had managed. Harry remembered that fact in that moment and accepted that hers was the only presence he could tolerate while he was preparing his mind and body for a world with no threat, no Voldemort, no fight.

He held his hand out to her in friendship so they could walk side by side. Hermione Granger had no business following him anymore, she had more than earned her place at his side and deserved to be seen as his equal and a true heroine to the wizarding world.

"It's been hours, Harry. The battle's been over for hours and people are beginning to clear out and go home. The Weasleys except Ron and Ginny, they're waiting for me to find you and bring you back, have just taken Fred back to the Burrow. You know they're expecting us to go back there with them."

"I know. Let's go back to the Entrance Hall," Harry decided, once more feeling the pang of obligation, "let's take them home. They'll all need us to cope with losing Fred."

Hermione nodded, her thoughts returning to her boyfriend waiting with his sister for their partners in the Entrance Hall. She loved Ron, she did, she was sure, but the prospect of being confined in the Burrow with a large family in the throes of mourning made her belly hurt. It was only the knowledge that Harry would be with her among the sea of grieving Weasleys that kept her from running for miles.

Harry observed Hermione's expression change from concern for him to outright fear and anxiety. He knew Ginny was waiting for him and that they were back together as they'd both hoped, but his mind drifted to his immediate future of crying redheads, days where his friends would be inconsolable and the Burrow would be inescapable.

Both found themselves soon enough in the vast Entrance Hall and in the suffocating embraces of their ginger boyfriend and girlfriend, completely and wholeheartedly wishing that their foreseeable futures in a warless world entailed more than wallowing in sorrow with a family that was not their own.


	2. CHAPTER I

**Author's Note:** I am not sure that my writing for the prologue adequately expressed what I want Harry and Hermione to be like. It reads to me like they're too selfish, but I am torn as I want them to be flawed characters here (in that they do have the thoughts) but I also don't want them to act OOC (they only _think_ selfishly in private and haven't acted on their innermost wants). Anyway, that's why I've put this chapter up as well since I think the prologue on its own doesn't quite do the characters or my writing style justice.

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

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The past few days had been tense in the Weasley household. Mrs Weasley quickly slipped into a listless depression in the wake of Fred's death and George, who was by far the most affected by the loss of his twin, had taken to experimenting with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes ideas that more often than not required Harry and Hermione to put out fires and administer various remedies to the lonely prankster. The older siblings had found comfort in their partners: Bill spent almost all of his time with Fleur, Charlie was engaged in a casual fling with a girl from the local pub and Percy's longtime love, Penelope, had come back into the picture. Ron and Ginny had taken the middle path of finding comfort in the arms of Hermione and Harry and between themselves. Yet, the Weasley patriarch had surprised everyone in his method of dealing with grief and once it became clear Molly would not accept his comfort or affection, had moved out to the barn and snapped his wand, forswearing magic entirely.

"If we think this is difficult, I can only imagine how difficult tomorrow's going to be," Harry groaned, returning to the dining table where Hermione sat after slipping George a sleeping draught, "what with the eight funerals we've got to sit through."

Hermione scoffed, "Sit through? Harry, you're going to have to give eulogies at most - if not all - of the funerals. Kingsley and everyone else is going to expect it."

The torrent of swear words and vulgar curses that spewed forth from Harry Potter in that moment would have made quite the spread in the Daily Prophet. If his audience consisted of anyone other than Hermione, they would have flinched at the vehemence in his tone and words, but she was accustomed to his releases that had been sporadic but persistent since they had unwillingly moved into the Burrow almost a week ago.

"They can't expect me to speak at all of them! It's not human! Haven't I done enough? I've only killed the psychopathic wizard who wanted to kill everyone! What more does everyone want? When can I be just Harry? I think I've just about fucking deserved it by now!" Harry roared, his fury unable to be restrained any longer.

Hermione sighed, beckoning him to sit beside her, "I know. It's hard. Tomorrow is going to be awful. I just can't believe they're insisting on serial funerals. Putting Remus, Tonks, Professor Snape, Fred, Lavender and Colin on the same day is painful. It literally breaks my heart. If you like, I'll tell Kingsley I can do eulogies at the other two, but they're going to insist you do those. They're people you actually knew."

"Are they not doing Remus and Tonks' funeral together?" Harry asked, only just realising that they were two ceremonies.

Hermione wiped a tear from her own cheek, "No. Because Remus was a werewolf, it wasn't allowed. They're being buried together though but the Ministry wouldn't do a joint funeral for them, even though they were married."

"That reminds me, I appreciate you offering to do eulogies at the other funerals, 'Mione," Harry said, having found his calm again, "I need your help tomorrow morning in between Tonks' funeral and Snape's."

" _Professor_ Snape, Harry. But alright, what do you need?"

Harry held her hand in his, just needing a bit of her strength for himself in that moment, "I'm meeting with Andromeda to talk about taking full custody of Teddy."

And as the new Minister of Magic spoke droves about Tonks' talents as an auror, her unfailing love as a wife and her lost chance at motherhood, Harry's thoughts went back to the conversation he had with his friend and her promise to support him if looking after Teddy full-time was what he truly wanted. Before the Minister's speech, Harry had taken to the podium to deliver his speech co-written with Hermione. Since then all his nervous energy was going towards his meeting with his godson's grandmother.

Hermione thought he he had done brilliantly well that morning, considering public speaking was not his _metier_ and the subject matter was so painful to him, but from the way his entire body was shuddering, his nerves were coming out to play. Subtly and without fuss, she slipped her glove off and placed her hand in his, his grip reacting immediately to keep her there with him.

"It's nearly over. Then we'll go and talk to her," Hermione whispered, "and it'll all be fine."

Harry nodded, turning to look at her hazelnut eyes and finding the comfort and help he always found in them. He wondered how on earth in that moment people ever labelled Hermione as his follower - Ron, perhaps - but Hermione never. She had followed him on his path, but more often it was her leading him and guiding him down that dangerous way, keeping him and the rest of the world safe. When he had doubts or struggled, as he was now, it was Hermione's hand that took his and led him along the way.

Before either of them realised it, the funeral rites for Nymphadora were over and people were leaving for lunch and a much-needed respite between ceremonies. Once two thirds of the Golden Trio snapped out of their funk, Hermione squeezed Harry's hand and went over to the easily spotted Weasley family in search of Ginny and Ron.

She pulled them away and murmured, "Harry and I have some business with Mrs Tonks to attend to but we'll see you at Fred's funeral later. We shouldn't be too long but you two need to stay here. We'll tell you all about it later."

Without waiting for the argument of why Hermione was to be the one to go with Harry and have business with him instead of Ginny, the youngest Weasley siblings just stood by as Hermione strode back to Harry and linked her arm in the crook of his before they both walked over to Andromeda Tonks who stood with the Minister with Teddy sleeping soundly in her arms.

"Mrs Tonks," Harry began unsteadily, "might we go somewhere to have that word now?"

Andromeda looked at him with bloodshot eyes but nodded and took her leave of Minister Shacklebolt. Harry, Hermione and Andromeda moved over to a picnic table away from the others where they wouldn't be disturbed and took their seats, Harry and Hermione sitting opposite Mrs Tonks.

"I know why you've asked to speak with me, Harry," she said, "and I have some requests to ask of you regarding my grandson's care before you take him."

Both Harry and Hermione were stunned by the older woman's blunt candor. They had expected her to be unreceptive to the idea of Harry taking sole custody of her only grandchild, but had not anticipated that she would be so abrupt in her manner with them.

"Erm...yes, of course," Harry stuttered, truly thrown off by Andromeda's attitude, "what are your requests?"

"I would like to be involved in his upbringing. Even though Remus and Nymphadora chose you to take Teddy if something happened to them, I'm his grandmother and I would like to be considered in decisions regarding raising him. I would also appreciate being allowed to come and see him from time to time. I would also like to know what other... _influences_ ," she said pointedly, her glare shifting to Hermione's presence at Harry's side, "there will be in Teddy's life."

Harry was not affronted by any of her requests, which, although delivered with spite and antipathy, were reasonable. Yet, when Andromeda turned that same enmity she had towards Hermione, Harry's temper flared.

"Mrs Tonks, I readily agree to all your terms but I think you've misunderstood me. I am not trying to take Teddy away from you or oust you from his life. My aim here is only to raise my godson as his parents wanted and to have you be a defining influence in his life. I had no loving upbringing and my situation was much the same as Teddy's, so _all_ I want is to give him what I never had - two people who can raise him as a family - you and me. While I want you to be fully involved in Teddy's future and have acquiesced to your requests, I will not allow you to dictate who I allow to be in my life and around Teddy, especially when your own judgment appears to be faulty, judging by your animosity towards Hermione, who will definitely be an influence in Teddy's life and mine."

Hermione looked back and forth between her best friend and Mrs Tonks, taken fully aback by Harry's insistence that she remain part of his life and be in Teddy's. The pair were fully staring daggers at each other now in a silent battle of wills, neither willing to be the first to cede over the precious boy who slept while his grandmother and godfather clashed in their desire to give him the best of everything.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Hermione burst out, "you two are just being so stupid! I'm actually amazed that you're both being such dunderheads! Can't you see that the two of you are just fighting each other because you're trying to accomplish the same thing but aren't sure the other person is? Let me tell you right now as an outsider - no, Harry, I am an outsider whatever you think otherwise - that Harry is the best person to raise Teddy because that's what Remus and Tonks thought and decided upon together and he wants to, and I know more than anyone alive that whenever Harry wants to do something like he wants to be a parent to Teddy he does it and he does it well. So, Mrs Tonks that just leaves you. You have just lost your daughter, husband and son-in-law and for that I am sorry. We have all lost people we loved in the war: Harry lost everyone _except_ Teddy and my parents are...gone."

"Wait...what?" Harry exclaimed.

"Later, Harry," Hermione pleaded, "anyway, I get why you're acting like Harry's a Snatcher trying to take your grandson away. You think he's too young, too damaged from the war, too immature to raise Teddy. They are your fears and I can appreciate where they come from, but I'm going to tell you something and because of that glare you shot me I'm not going to do it as gently as I would have. Harry is young but he's more mature than he should be at seventeen and is financially, emotionally and mentally ready to take care of Teddy. The war has damaged him, but miraculously no more than any of us are damaged. He has nightmares, so do I and I'd be astounded if you didn't have nightmares. You know what, though, he - at least - has the help of his friends and me. You are alone in that house with Teddy and it's obvious that it's too much for you, Mrs Tonks. So, all Harry is offering is to take the hard jobs and the responsibility, leaving you as the role you should have had if Remus and Tonks lived...as Teddy's grandma, the person he looks to for fun, for advice when Harry just won't do because he's too close or pocket money for Hogsmeade weekends. No one is _taking_ Teddy away from you but for some reason, you only want to see the worst in Harry's intentions. So, here's my advice and then I'm finished and I'm walking away, taking Teddy for a stroll while you two see sense: just get over yourselves, the pair of you, and stop bickering."

Hermione did not wait for either addressee to respond to her diatribe before she scooped the bundle of Teddy up out of Andromeda's embrace and stalked away cooing to the slumbering child.

"Well," Andromeda said, "she's something. Doesn't shy away from the truth at all, does she?"

Harry chuckled, "No, that she does not, but I love her for it...God knows it's saved my behind on more than one occasion. She is right though, Mrs Tonks, I don't want to take Teddy from you and you would always be more than welcome at our home."

Now that there was no delicate sleeping child in her arms, Andromeda fell forward onto her arms on the table and wept. Harry, in true shock, waited a moment before moving beside her and pulling her into his arms so she could let out her sorrow in comfort rather than onto the cold wood of the table.

Once Andromeda regained her countenance, she pulled away from the man (she did wonder when she had begun to see him as such, considering that before the funerals she referred to him as the boy). She saw the desire to help in Harry Potter's emerald eyes along with the desire to have a future in this post-war world he never expected to see. She had done him wrong and misjudged him and it had taken the woman, whose presence in Harry's life she wasn't sure she understood or approved of judging by their intimacy during the three funerals that had taken place that day, to berate her and Harry for quite some time to see it.

"I'm sorry I was harsh earlier, Harry," Andromeda confessed, "I was angry at myself for being too old and tired to look after Teddy properly. I'm sorry you and Hermione bore the brunt of it. She's quite the firecracker when she wants to be though and I can see her defending the son of a werewolf in the future. She really ought to consider a career at the Ministry, the way she takes to an argument."

Harry's eyes shone at the common ground they had found thanks to Hermione's outburst and replied, "She does love to put me right when I'm being a dunderhead, as she puts it. She'll never work at the Ministry though, Mrs Tonks, she's doesn't trust people in politics and she doesn't like being a public person any more than I do. I don't know what her plans for her future are, despite sharing mine with her. We've just been so trapped at the Weasleys helping them deal with losing Fred that we've barely had time to consider what we'll do. I just knew the first step was talking to you about Teddy's future."

She nodded, "First, please call me Andromeda, dear, there's no need to be so formal. And, I have to ask, when do you want to move Teddy in with you?"

Harry sensed she was about to say take Teddy, but was grateful she didn't. He couldn't have the same fight with her again. He was pleased they were on cordial terms and now just had Teddy, Hermione and Ginny to think about in his future.

"In two weeks, if that's okay with you. I mean, I can get him sooner but while I find a place to live and set it up for him, I thought you might like to spend that time with him. If that's too soon or too long for you, I'm open to your suggestions."

Andromeda smiled, pleased she wouldn't lose her only company instantly, "No, Harry. A fortnight is perfect. It gives me enough time to pack up Teddy's things and spend time with him and it gives you time to set up your home without a young child to consider."

"It's settled then. Now, I believe I need to go and find Hermione. I think we have some things to discuss and I'll get her to bring Teddy back after she kind of stole him."

The older woman chuckled, "Yes, she kind of did. I don't mind though. She more or less took care of you for seven years. She won't find a sleeping baby a challenge at all. I didn't know she lost her own parents though, Harry, so please pass on my condolences."

Harry nodded, "I will, but first I want to ask her about that myself, because I didn't know she lost her parents. She didn't tell me."

Andromeda popped her lips open in surprise. She was under the impression from Hermione's closeness to Harry that they shared everything. She could only imagine how the loss of her parents had affected the young witch for her not to confide in her closest companion.

"I'll owl you soon, Andromeda," Harry promised, rising from the picnic table bench, "once things are a bit more settled."

With that he went in search of Hermione, avoiding the sea of redheads like the plague, unwilling to imprison himself in his girlfriend's clutches while Hermione was his priority. He found her swaying with Teddy gurgling in her arms while she spoke with Headmistress McGonagall. He didn't want to interrupt them as it seemed they were engaged in a serious discussion but his old Head of House caught his eye and beckoned him over.

"Well, Mr Potter," McGonagall said, a smile gracing her thin lips, "I must say you spoke very well at all three funerals this morning. You made me quite proud."

"Thank you, professor, though Hermione wrote most of the speeches."

While Hermione blushed at the credit due to her, Professor McGonagall smirked, "Yes, I know. I recognised her voice in what you were saying. That's what made each speech brilliant, they all contained Miss Granger's smarts and sense of loyalty along with your own of bravery and courage, Potter. Now, I have just asked your friend here a serious question about her future and she flat out refused to answer me without discussing her options with you."

"What is it, Hermione?" Harry asked, giving his friend all of his attention.

"She, that is, the Headmistress has asked me to join the staff at Hogwarts and teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry was blown away by her revelation. He knew she was the perfect candidate for the position: she was excellent at the subject, had first-hand experience of duelling and fighting the dark arts and she would be a force to be reckoned with in the classroom inspiring and teaching everything that was stored in that colossal brain of hers to students. He was sure the wizarding world would be a much safer place if the witches, wizards and aurors being turned out by Hogwarts were being instructed by the brightest witch of the age. He was so proud of her.

"That's amazing! Are you going to accept?" He asked, not entirely certain what her answer would be.

"I'd like to, Harry, you know I'd _love_ to! Teaching is what I've wanted to do forever, but I can't help but think me moving up to the castle in a few months once the repairs are complete is going to upset a lot of people...redheaded people, and I don't want to do that when they're going through so much sadness and when they've done so much for me."

Harry groaned, since the Weasley predicament was troubling him regarding his need to move away to be with Teddy in their own home. He knew it wasn't right that Hermione even think about throwing away her dream career just to enable the Weasley family through their grief. He knew that both their boyfriend and girlfriend were members of the family and grieving over their brother but since the battle had finished, neither had really spoken words to them about their relationships that started in the calamity that ensued after the fighting was done and were uncertain at best. Both knew that Ginny and Ron would find it hard to accept their plans for their futures, but hadn't figured out how to break it to their partners that the things both wanted did not feature extended stays at the Burrow.

"Professor, can we have a moment and would you mind taking Teddy back to Andromeda? I think Hermione and I need to have a talk."

Once the Headmistress had left with Teddy, Harry pulled Hermione into his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders so they could walk together. He let her acclimate to their gait before he began his own tirade, mirroring that she had embarked on against himself and Andromeda.

"Hermione, first, tell me what happened with your parents, please. I thought they were still safe in Australia."

He saw her bite back a sob before she answered, "They died. I got there too late. It's funny, isn't it, that I sent them away to save them from dying at the Death Eaters' hands but they died in a stupid car accident? They died two months ago. I apparated to Australia on Monday to find them and I asked a neighbour of theirs who said that the Wilkins died when a truck crashed into their car on the freeway. At least it happened instantly. They didn't suffer. Better than being tortured for hours before being put out of their misery, I suppose."

"Oh, sweetheart..." Harry crooned as he stopped and pulled her into his chest for a hug, kissing her hair softly as he held her while she let her tears loose.

He didn't know where 'sweetheart' had come from but it felt right to call her that. She did, after all, have the sweetest heart of any person he had ever known and that heart had been carrying the burden of her parents' deaths alone for two days, sharing it with not a soul.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked up at him with sad, sorry eyes, "I didn't want to be one more person you had to comfort in their grief. I know how tired we are and how the Weasleys don't seem to be getting any easier to take care of despite us staying up all day and all night to do so. I don't want to be one more burden on you, Harry."

"You have never and could never be a burden on me and I'm kind of hurt that you don't know you can tell me anything, anytime, anywhere. I will always want to help you and that's why I'm going to say probably the harshest thing I've ever said but I've been thinking it since the end of the battle. The Weasleys, though they've helped us in the past and been there for us, are not our family. Just because we are dating two of them does not make us honorary Weasleys or whatever they think we are. I'm Harry _Potter_ and you're Hermione _Granger_. We're not married to Ginny and Ron and our future is not the Burrow if we don't want it to be and feeling sorry for what that family is going through should not affect our lives. I need to find a place in the world where Teddy and I can learn to be a family and I have no intention of making that place the Burrow. You, sweetheart," he said it again and was glad when it made Hermione's smile reach her eyes, "need to accept McGonagall's offer and go to Hogwarts and teach dunderheads like I was how to defend themselves, though I hope they'll never need to, and all that other amazing stuff you've got crammed in that brilliant brain of yours."

Hermione hugged him and said, smiling more than she had in days, "I'll accept but will you and Teddy find somewhere close?"

That request was more like the Hermione he knew and loved, and he replied grinning equally as hard, "I was thinking about that since McGonagall said she'd hire you. I'll look for a place in Hogsmeade, 'Mione."

She smiled and wrapped him harder in her hug, elated that he wanted to be near to her. Only when she thought about him living with Teddy did her smile falter and she pulled away.

"What about Ginny and Ron? How are we going to tell them and the rest of the Weasleys? They're going to be so angry, Harry..."

The Boy Who Lived grimaced but replied, "They will, but if they love us, they'll understand and if they don't then we're getting out just in time, sweetheart."

Hermione agreed but was having too much trouble moving her diligent mind away from how she liked being called Harry's sweetheart to consider the effects of their decisions to move away from the Burrow and the Weasleys.


	3. CHAPTER II

Neither Harry nor Hermione were looking forward to lunch. All the Weasleys would be present and since deciding yesterday that both would be leaving soon, this was the occasion they selected during which to break the news. The entire family would be there so they would only have to explain themselves once and there would be a buffer between them and the three parties they anticipated would object most profusely to their impending departure: namely, Molly, Ron and Ginny.

Once the meal was over, Harry grasped Hermione's hand beneath the table and felt her squeeze it in support. The next part wouldn't be as easy.

"Guys, Hermione and I have something we each need to tell you and it's not going to be easy for us, so please, just hear us out before you hex us or kick us out." Harry began.

"Harry and I are leaving. Harry's moving to Hogsmeade so he can look after Teddy full-time and Professor McGonagall has offered me the Defence Against the Dark Arts post at Hogwarts so I'll be moving into the castle." Hermione continued.

"What?! Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this NOW?! Our brother just died and you two want to leave us too!" Ginny quickly exploded.

Ron carried on in the same vein, "Are you two sleeping together? Is that why you've been going off together and leaving me and Ginny behind? I thought you loved me, 'Mione, and Harry you're _supposed_ to be with Ginny! That's how it's meant to be! You're not meant to break up with both of us and run off to bloody Scotland!"

"No one's breaking up with anyone," Harry roared back, unwilling to let the situation get further out of hand, "and no one's sleeping together! All Hermione and I are saying is that we've planned the next step in our lives. I asked you to hear us out but you didn't and now you've managed to get the wrong end of the stick."

Hermione saw her opportunity to weigh in, looked at Ron seriously and continued, "I love you, Ron, and I don't want what we have to end but I cannot stay here and play nursemaid indefinitely to your family. Nor can I rely on my savings to survive. I need - no, I want - to work and I've always wanted to teach so when Professor McGonagall talked to me about taking the Defence professorship, I knew I would accept it."

"And I, I never expected to survive that battle, Ginny," Harry confessed, looking into his girlfriend's sparkling brown eyes, "but now that I have and I have you as well, I need to start living, properly living. There's no fight waiting for me and I'm not expecting to die. I just want to work out a life for myself that isn't about war, grief and looking back. Teddy is my godson and I need to start being his godfather. I need to start looking forward to my - our - future as a family and I hope that when you get around to thinking about your life and what you want in life again, you'll include Teddy and me in that picture."

Hermione and Ron stared at the other member of the Golden Trio with open mouths. Where Hermione's speech had been dumbed down and simple in its tone and intent, Harry's in contrast had been almost poetic. His words to his fiery (in more than her hair) girlfriend were moving and made Hermione's image of Harry settling down with Teddy with Ginny behind him almost seem like a dreamscape. She fathomed that for him, such a vision probably was one that featured in his dreams. Merlin knew he needed a reprieve from his night terrors.

"While what you've both said is very compelling," Molly Weasley's shrill voice intoned, "do we have any say in your plans? What if you're needed _here_? Does that mean nothing to you?"

The words ' _after all we've done for you'_ remained unsaid but both Harry and Hermione could hear the Weasley matriarch thinking them excruciatingly loudly. Both knew that this pressure might arise, particularly from her, but they knew they couldn't give in if they were to live their own lives in the post-war world at all.

Harry grunted, "I think you're all misunderstanding us and our intentions. The idea is not that we bolt and abandon you, the people we love and the people we care for dearly. I, of course, will come back often and see Ginny and Ron. I'll even bring Teddy for a visit if you guys are up for it, but I won't be here 24/7 sharing a bedroom with Ron and away from my godson. Hermione? You've been quiet. Care to weigh in?"

She heard the irritation at being the lead speaker and nodded, "Yes, I'm sorry. I've been thinking. I feel much the same way and I'm so, _so_ grateful for everything you've done for me. And part of me hopes that Ginny, you might want to return to Hogwarts and finish your studies in the future, and I'll be there for you, but I'm sorry I cannot stay at the Burrow any more. Harry and I," as she gave her closest friend a thought, she realised she still had his hand gripped in hers and gave it a squeeze for strength, "cannot play Weasley any more. We are so sad that Fred's gone and we do feel your grief, but he was not our brother or our son and you all need time, as a family, to come to terms with that and what you're going to do now that the war's over. Just know that we both love all of you and if you need us, all you have to do is owl or floo and there'll be nothing that stops us from coming for a visit."

Ginny and Ron were reeling from what their lovers (though both had yet to see some action) were telling them. Yet, it seemed that more planning was necessary if they were hoping to dent Harry and Hermione's vision for their futures. Both appeared resolutely determined not to be diverted from their plans today, but Hogwarts was still being repaired and Harry did not have custody yet. There was ample time to construct a strategy to bring their partners back to them and the fold.

"Well," Ginny eventually said, breaking the awkward silence, "I don't like it, Harry, but if you want to move out and play happy families with Teddy, I won't stop you."

Ron echoed his sister's passive aggression and addressed Hermione, "If you think that teaching and school is what you need right now instead of being with your family and your boyfriend, I guess that's your call, 'Mione, but like Ginny said. I don't like it."

With their sentiments fully out in the open, the youngest Weasleys rose from the table, nodded at their mother and went upstairs together. Harry elbowed Hermione gently in the ribs and shook his head for her to accompany him outside so they could talk away from Mrs Weasley's derision.

"We're just popping out for a chat, Mrs Weasley," Hermione announced, "don't wait for us for supper if we're still gone by then."

With that the two thirds of the Golden Trio walked out of the Burrow, their hands still entwined. Before Harry knew where precisely he and Hermione were going, he felt an all too familiar yank behind his belly and a whirlwind of air swirl around him as he was being apparated away from Ottery St. Catchpole.

"What the hell, Hermione?" Harry exclaimed.

"Sorry. I just thought we could get a bit further away from there than you anticipated to think. Don't worry though, we're safe here." She said with her typical confidence.

"Where exactly is here?"

Hermione breathed and realised she had been holding her breath from the anxiety of talking to Ron, "We're at my parents' house. We're in Exeter, Harry, it's not too distant from the Burrow, but it's far enough."

Harry marvelled that he'd never been to Hermione's house. She'd always been careful about her parents' involvement in the wizarding world and it turned out it was for good reason, but Harry felt privileged he was finally getting some insight into his female best friend.

"Has Ron ever been here?" Harry asked, though certain he knew what her answer would be.

She scoffed, "No."

Without further ado, she extracted her wand from its holster and murmured a quick anti-disillusionment charm which revealed a slate grey house that was neither large nor small sitting behind a flowery front garden. She kept hold of his hand as they went through the gate and up the path towards the building.

"I had to hide it, just in case Death Eaters came and got a bit miffed because no one lived here anymore."

Harry nodded but was too busy drinking in the sight of her family home to form words. The Grangers' home was simple, almost surgical, but from the way Hermione was smiling as she unlocked the front door, Harry guessed that the interior was where the heart of the place lay.

They made their way quickly into the living room which was full of pictures of the Drs Granger but were absent their daughter's presence. A side effect of her obliviation...

"Oh, 'Mione..." Harry cooed as her eyes grew misty as she inspected the photographs as well.

Feeling herself being drawn into a strong embrace was all it took for the brave witch to crumble and melt into floods of tears. She had not been in her own house for almost a year and a half, not seen her parents or felt her family's love. She let a bit of her grief out then, knowing that Harry was there to catch her as she fell, but when they were curled on the maroon carpet together, him holding her as she sobbed, she was glad she had come home and let her guard down with Harry.

"I'm sorry," she said, pulling herself together, "this was just a bit...unexpected."

"I'll say."

Hermione chuckled, "We should talk about how that went. You know, with Ron, Ginny and Molly."

"My thoughts are that it didn't go quite the way I'd hoped but it could have been so much worse. No one was hexed, which is always a plus!"

"Harry, be serious!" Hermione chided, not really looking to reprimand, more to jest.

His positivity dissipated and he donned his serious face, "I just feel...disappointed, I guess. I hoped that they'd see more from our point of view rather than focusing on how what we want will be affecting them and their plans for us."

Hermione curled into his side, "I know. I don't know where the idea of breaking up came from. It frightened me though, how quick Ron was to accuse me of cheating and wanting to leave him specifically just because I disagree with him about what my life looks like. I've never given him reason to think I'm unfaithful, which is more than I can say for him."

Harry winced, recalling the fears Ron had that were played out by the fragment of Voldemort's soul which Ron destroyed, "He doesn't think you're cheating. He knows you're not, but it's something he's always feared: losing you to someone else."

"Someone like you, you mean?" Hermione blurted out before she understood why she'd said it.

Harry turned to look at her with inquisitive eyes, "Well, that's what he saw that night in the forest but remember, that's his own fault and we're not to blame for where his mind wanders. He left us alone. He abandoned us and went home for his mother's hot meals. I had to carry on and I wasn't about to babysit him and you," his voice suddenly became soft, "you stayed. You didn't go with him, even though you were in love with him."

"I stayed because you needed me to. I don't want to be another person in your life who leaves you. You have been hurt so much by that trend and I could not have faced myself again if I joined the line: your parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Remus, even Snape and Cedric. I won't leave you until you send me away."

Hermione's words rendered him speechless. She had more or less professed her love for him right there. He knew it was the best kind of love shared between the closest friends but she was so sure in her words and their meaning that he felt safer in a world where he had this witch by his side and her promise that she would be on his side.

"What about the Weasleys?" Harry asked, their name coming out of nowhere.

"What about them?"

Harry sighed, "Are we sending them away? Are we doing the right thing or are we being selfish bastards who are just looking to get away from an unpleasant obligation to people who are basically our family?"

"They're not though!" Hermione erupted without warning.

Harry was about to tell her to calm down and not get so worked up but before he had the chance she was off on a rant similar to the one she'd had at him and Mrs Tonks.

"They're not our family! Our families are dead, Harry! Your parents, my parents are all gone! They've lost a brother, and Molly lost her brothers years ago but they still have people to turn to. I know we'll probably end up married to Ron and Ginny at some point down the line and I'll be one of the many Mrs Weasleys but that still won't make them magically into my flesh and blood. I've never said this, Harry, and I won't to their faces but I hate it! It started that summer before fifth year at Grimmauld Place. I am not theirs to be ordered about and treated like a daughter. I know they only did it because they apparently see me as family but I am not a Weasley. I'm nothing like them and as much as they want to change me and want me to settle down, marry Ron and birth a hundred stupid children who just want to play Quidditch all day and eat until they drop, I am not that person! I love Ron, I do but I wonder if he sees me for me or if he's seeing me the way his mother and the rest of his family do. I just want my freedom now, Harry. I'm of age, I fought and I survived. None of the Weasleys can deny me the life I want if not even Voldemort could, right? He denied me my own parents as he did yours and no one can take their place no matter how much they want to, right?"

At the end of her vociferation, with her two questions, she sounded so small and so unsure of what her lot was in life that Harry nearly wept for her. He had come to terms with his orphan status long ago, but for her the loss was still too near and too painful. His own loss still stung but he had made his peace with it during his years at Hogwarts when he had found the school he would call home and the most loyal friends he knew whom he saw as family.

"Of course you can have whatever life you want, sweetheart," Harry said, relishing in the smile that his own term of endearment for her caused, "and no one can take the place of your parents. I know the Weasleys try to. They tried with my parents and they tried with Sirius, but they have no right to our parents' places in our hearts. Yes, they've sheltered us and helped us and fed us, but we've thanked them and they've been paid in full for their help and service. They received a lot of compensation both from the Ministry and from Sirius and Remus' vaults. I promise you that for each and everything we've received from them, they've received it twice over. We have no debt to them and we most certainly do not owe them the rest of our lives, even if we are in relationships with Ron and Ginny."

Hermione felt a mammoth burden lift from her tired shoulders as Harry reassured her. She knew that they'd got some money from the Ministry of Magic; all those who had fought over years against Lord Voldemort had received pecuniary compensation but she had no knowledge of the Marauders' contribution to a growing Weasley fortune. Even though the money they handed over was no doubt for the Weasleys' treatment of their best friends' son, she felt better knowing it had been of an amount where she was at liberty too.

She breathed a sigh of immense relief and let her upper body fall from Harry's shoulder onto his lap so that her head rested comfortably on his upper legs.

"You didn't say 'in love'?"

Harry's brow furrowed in confusion, "Pardon me?"

Hermione nestled further into his warmth as she elaborated, "You didn't say that we are in love with Ron and Ginny, you said in relationships. Are you unsure of your feelings or have you not told Ginny you love her?"

"What are you talking about? I said it at the Burrow right before we left!"

Hermione laughed and it sent enchanting vibrations through Harry's body, "I remember you saying some vague nonsense about people we love at the Burrow, but that's not a declaration of love. That's a platitude."

As always, she was right, but Harry did not want to go into his mixed feelings towards the only Weasley daughter.

"Well, she knew what I meant and I _do_ love her." He said curtly.

"Do you really? Enough to spend the rest of your life with her constantly by your side? In your bed? If you do, I'm almost jealous of you, because I wish I felt that sure about Ronald."

Hermione virtually never called their other best friend by his full first name. Harry was flabbergasted by her divulgence of the uncertainty of her amorous feelings towards her boyfriend, though, especially seeing as she had been blurting out her love for Ron passionately earlier at the Burrow.

"Why? You said you loved him over and over again earlier when we were talking to them. What's changed? And just so's you know, I don't know about Ginny, so there's no need to be jealous, I just know that she _could_ be the woman I want to have in my bed and be a mother to my children. We've only been back together a few days. It's too soon to be ringing the wedding bells just yet."

"I did say I love him but we were fighting on so many fronts, Harry, with Molly and Ginny there, and then Ron came out with that crap about shagging you and I thought if I said how much I love him a couple of times, he'd at least put that thought out of his mind. It's just there was all that...heat during the fight and after we kissed and I feel like we went from arguing to kissing to tied together forever before I've even had a chance to breathe."

"Then breathe here, now, with me," Harry offered, "work out what your heart wants and I'll do the same right next to you. This is our time to regroup before we go back to the Burrow."

They sat, or Harry sat and Hermione reclined across his lap, while they meditated on what their hearts were saying to their brains and what was going on in that conversation. It seemed like no time at all had elapsed before the pair met each other's eyes and smiled, having figured the conundrum out.

"I love Ginny, but I'm not going to he the Boy Who Lived or the Saviour of the Wizarding World for her. She can be part of my life but I'm not going to let her run my life. She's not you."

Hermione smiled at that last statement but took Harry's hands in hers and replied, "I do love Ron, so much, but I don't think he truly knows me enough to know if he truly loves me yet. He's not you."

Harry pulled her into a hug, thanking Merlin, Buddha, Brahma and whatever other higher beings there were for sending him this creature for a friend. He knew she was his greatest gift. He felt his muscles seize as he realised he thought so and had done since he was stuck in Devil's Snare as a small, scared eleven year old. He wasn't in love with her but there was something so special shared between him and the girl in his arms. She had given him so much of herself to safeguard him and make sure he reached his destiny and he wanted to share something with her and only her that would cement her place in his life and high in his esteem.

"Hermione, can I ask you something...personal?" Harry inquired tentatively.

"Anything, though consider my interest piqued."

He took in a deep breath before taking the plunge, "Are you a virgin?"

She blinked five times before her tongue came back to her, "Why would you want to know something like that?"

"Just answer the question, please."

She grimaced, "Yes, I am. So what? Are you?"

Her last question was meant just to make a point, but he replied that he was and that he had another question to ask her.

"You know I love you, as a friend, my best friend. Yet I cannot say I love you as a sister. I know why now. I do love you, and I know that on some level I value your presence in my life more than I do anyone else's, even Ginny's and I love her. I always knew I'd have my first time be with someone I couldn't stand to live without and before we left to find Horcruxes, I though that person would be Ginny, but since we spent all that time in that tent and coming back and staying at the Weasleys' with only each other for non-redhead company, I know that that person is _you_. So I want to be the person you share your first time with. I want you to share in my first time. They say you never forget your first time and though I've searched high and low for the right way to describe you - since friend, best friend, sister, confidante are all insufficient to describe our relationship - I want to call you my first."

Hermione Jean Granger was rarely caught speechless. Usually, she was the complete opposite, but having your best friend (though now that term was sour in her mouth) proposition you sent her synapses into overdrive. She had no clue what was the right thing to do when your oldest friend told you he loved another woman but wanted you to be his first in the same breath. She knew life before Hogwarts with the Dursleys, losing his parents and Sirius and the constant need to fight to survive sometimes made Harry's mind work in different and unfathomable ways but this idea of his was bordering on insane.

"Harry, sweetheart," she murmured, using his own endearment to ply him with, "do you know what you're asking? Or has your heart run away with your tongue before your brain got a word in?"

He chuckled at her way of putting things, "No, 'Mione, all three are working together and came to that conclusion: that I want _you_."

She did admit to herself that hearing those three words, physical and lust-filled words, gave her a rush and she felt a surge that spread from the depths of her belly into every nerve in her body. She knew then, that her heart aside, she wanted him too. She would have Harry James Potter as her first.

Without more words, she kissed him - chastely - on his slightly chapped but handsome lips and sank further into his arms as though she could drown there. She felt joy as he moved against her and swung her leg over both his own so she sat astride him while he plundered her lips without mercy. Within seconds she felt his hardness grow beneath her own moistening core and set about disrobing the both of them.

As one kiss turned to another and dusk began to settle, Harry Potter found himself plunging in up to his hilt inside his first and Hermione Granger found herself paralysed from the pleasure as she came undone around his cock.


	4. CHAPTER III

**Author's Note:** I would just like to thank everyone for their support for this story...it's been overwhelming (my email account has certainly been overwhelmed by the notifications of reviews, favorites and follows). I'm glad you seem to be looking forward to the rest of this story - I am too! This is a shorter, filler chapter but the last chapter was way too long and I didn't want to end it as this one ends. Anyway, thanks again for all your continued support and happy reading and reviewing!

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

* * *

"Well, I suppose we'd better go back to the Burrow." Harry offered, unaccustomed to awkward silences between him and Hermione, even as they rested in post-coital bliss.

"Just wait a few more minutes. I'm happy here."

Her words brought reality back to the both of them as they remained snuggled together in their cocoon. They each had a boyfriend and girlfriend waiting - however annoyed they were - back at the Burrow and the obligation to return and carry on caring for the family with whom they were lodging.

"I'm glad I told Mrs Weasley not to wait for us for dinner," Hermione said, glancing at the carriage clock, "it's already eight o'clock."

"What are we going to do when we get back there?"

Hermione sighed against Harry's bare chest and groaned her reply, "We're going to carry on. We're going to follow through with our plans, move on with our lives and go back to Ron and Ginny. We knew that this would be a one-time thing. We're not in love and we're not together."

"You don't regret being with me, do you?" Harry interrupted brusquely, affronted at the perceived insult.

Hermione placed a chaste kiss to the side of his neck and shook her head, "No, not at all. I'm honoured you wanted to share your first time with me and I'll never forget that you were mine too. It felt right, in fact, it's been the one thing that's gone right in a long time, it feels like, but we have cheated on Ron and Ginny, Harry. _That_ I do regret. We betrayed their trust and the love they have for us. We're not their family but we do owe them our fidelity."

"You're right," Harry agreed, "as always. I suppose I have a day of house hunting tomorrow then. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to Hogwarts and accept Professor McGonagall's offer and then help with the repairs. She thinks the timing will be tight. It will be close to the start of the new school year when the castle repairs are completed and they need all the help they can get."

"It's going to take two months?! Even with magic?" Harry asked, stunned that the building had sustained so much damage that with the aid of magic, the repair effort would take so long.

"Yes. Mostly, it's building the wards back up once the building work is done that is the worry. They are ancient, dating back to the Founders' time. We need to do so much research to find out exactly what spells and guards were used so the castle is safe for students again."

"And staff, 'Mione. You need to be safe at the castle too." Harry insisted, struggling to think about her being placed in peril again for any amount of time.

The witch snuggled closer into him, understanding his words and their subtle meaning clearly, as she always did and taking comfort from his constant, deep care for her.

"Let's head back to the Burrow if we're going to go. Sounds like we've both got a ton to do tomorrow and you know Ron and Ginny aren't going to make any of it easy."

Hermione grunted and grimaced, "But we love them anyway. Don't we?"

"Apparently, we do." Harry admitted, feeling the same doubt of the depth and truth of his feelings for Ginny as Hermione was experiencing with hers for Ron.

They clothed themselves swiftly and hooked arms as they walked back down the path to the front gate of the property in order to apparate away. As they watched the house vanish under Hermione's carefully placed wards, both were sure after the secret intimacy they shared in Hermione's homely, ordered and stylish house that the Burrow, the home that was the symbol of childishness, coddling and chaos, would not be their home for more than a few days.


	5. CHAPTER IV

**Author's Note:** I apologise for the delay in writing, particularly as I stopped at such a point where I think I unnerved a few people. I got a promotion at work and time hasn't been aplenty so writing had to take a back seat for a while there, but not to worry, I'm back now. Hope you enjoy this chapter (NB. I know what acts as the catalyst for Harry and Hermione's breakup with the Weasley siblings is a cliché but it's damn effective and I like the ending it precludes, so if you don't like it, I'm afraid I won't mind much).

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

* * *

 _2 months later…_

"Yes, Professor," Hermione replied, thoroughly relishing the intellectual challenge of debate with her new boss, "I quite agree with you there. The aperture for wand resistance in substantial hex-casting is growing yet in standard Defence Against the Dark Arts pedagogy across all major European institutions, the topic is untouched. It is appalling, especially when more and more casualties are flooding in from unknowing witches and wizards whose spells rebound because their own wand is out of tune with their magical energy."

Sitting in the Head's parlour with a hovering tea service primed with steaming Earl Grey tea and cucumber sandwiches whilst entrammelled in the richest and most vigorous scholastic debate either woman had experienced in quite some while was turning out to be what both looked forward to most in their week. For her part, Minerva was weary of the apparently never ending effort to repair Hogwarts Castle and residing with only Flitwick, Sprout and Pomfrey for the past few months. School was due to commence in a fortnight and some more of the staff had returned but few with the same vitality, all of them diminished somewhat by the final battle against Tom Riddle.

As the Headmistress regarded her young companion, her expression turned from scrutiny (the result of strenuous academic discourse with a knowledgeable and direct colleague) to fondness. Since Miss Granger had moved her domicile to the castle just over a month ago, the place had recaptured some of its lost shine that came with having youth and passion for learning and teaching both there once more. Her three colleagues had taken to nicknaming the youngest professor Hogwarts had taken on in four centuries 'Princess'. Hermione had approached her new employer and confessed that she abhorred the pet name, but Minerva was as wise as her divine namesake...she was well aware that Filius, Pomona and Poppy called Hermione 'Princess' not because they were belittling her mind or her professionalism, but far greater, they saw her as a princess. To them, the surviving teachers at Hogwarts, Hermione was a true princess. She was Gryffindor royalty who deserved every honour that had been heaped upon her and commanded the respect of all regardless of age or blood status. She convinced her protégée to permit her colleagues to continue in their affectionate nicknaming of her, telling her that they certainly meant no offense or insult. That their intent was to bestow upon her yet another honour and sign of affection and perennial gratitude.

Under Professor McGonagall's gaze, the young witch seemed to wither and grow ghostly pale. Her complexion became wan and her eyelids seemed to droop under an invisible burden, one that could not have been their discourse.

"Hermione dear, are you quite well? You're pale and look," the elderly woman said gesturing to Hermione's brow, "you've broken out in a sweat!"

Hermione did suddenly feel faint and her head started to spin. Her stomach felt as though it was tumbling down a hill, bounding about and rolling. She was unaccustomed to feeling ill and it was not her time of the month. Suddenly, as she thought about her menses, her heart began to thrum in her breast and her vision grew hazy and started to vanish. As she felt herself fall from her chair, she heard her companion call her name just before everything turned black.

As the girl felt her eyes flutter and her body ache as she awoke,

"When will she wake up, Headmistress? She has been unconscious now for more than two hours. I'm going to fetch Madam Pomfrey to come check on her. It's not like her to faint. She faced down the Dark Lord and a killer snake and barely batted an eyelid but one zealous conversation about wandlore with you and she's out cold on the floor."

"Mr. Potter, Harry, if I can call you that," Hermione heard her employer say in a concerned but strong tone, "Professor Granger will recover, Poppy has assured me. She actually seemed quite positive when she left here to make sure her shift was covered at St. Mungo's. That too is reassuring, since if Miss Granger were in any true peril, Madam Pomfrey would have simply sent a house elf to deliver the message. We just need to be patient and I'm sure Hermione will rejoin us presently."

"If she hasn't already…" Hermione croaked, having understood her situation was not dire.

"Oh, thank Merlin, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, pulling his best friend into his tight embrace.

"Glad you're awake, Miss Granger," McGonagall greeted with a smug smile as if she had no doubt of her protégée regaining consciousness, "Mr. Potter here has been quite beside himself for the past few hours."

"I have not!"

Hermione snickered, "I know you, Potter, I know you were worried. I heard you too."

As she said that, the young woman remembered what her final thought had been before her world turned black. She felt as though she were going to wilt against the equally distressed faces of her bedside companions. She needed Harry, she needed to speak to Harry...alone.

"Professor, I'm sorry to trouble you and I'm so embarrassed that you had to deal with me fainting in your office, but would you mind if I had a minute to talk to Harry alone, please."

Minerva assented easily, knowing that the Golden Trio always preferred each other's company in times of trouble. She only hoped that her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor would be alright in time for the commencement of term. She had not let on, but she was depending on her war hero teacher to inspire some morale in the pupils and returning staff and incite some hope in new members of the Hogwarts family.

"What's up, 'Mione? You scared me there, sweetheart." Harry crooned, stroking his friend's unruly, wild brown hair.

She winced at the sound of the endearment on Harry's lips. It reminded her of what she was about to tell him, of the fact that she had barely seen the man she had laid with for hours in her parents' house and of all the great evils the magical world had thrown at them that they had defeated. Her eyes watered as she thought that not one thing had overcome them, their strength and their friendship, but what she guessed was stirring within her - a thing she could only see as good - could utterly destroy all that they had built and nurtured since they were eleven years old.

"How's Teddy?" Hermione asked, having nowhere near the levels of courage she required to tell her news.

Harry grimaced, knowing precisely how she was evading him, but he grinned as he answered, "He's great. He amazes me every single day I'm with him. He's so much like Remus and Tonks...always up to no good. Now that he's moving about more, I've had to proof the entire house. For the first time in my life, I've done nothing but have fun and enjoy having a family. It's great, but I've missed you. You've been a stranger since we both moved up here. Is it what happened between us or have you just had enough of me?"

The tears streamed down her face in earnest as her childhood friend expressed his doubts in her continued affection and loyalty to him. She had been distant, but she could not work out just how her life was going to go now. After helping Harry move in with Teddy to his small house in Hogsmeade, just as he had planned, his life seemed to be coming together and he deserved it so much that she couldn't blame him, but hers seemed to be in a constant state of limbo and it broke something within her.

"'Mione, talk to me please, and stop crying. You know I can't bear it when you cry."

She curled into his arms and found long sought after comfort there, "I'm sorry. I wanted to come down so many times but I, I just couldn't. I haven't seen Ron or Ginny either. I've just been here, trying to adjust to living in the castle as a teacher and preparing my lessons."

"As it turns out, I haven't really seen the Weasleys either since we left Devon. I'm about to start auror training in three weeks and I've been invited to lunch at the Weasleys' before I start tomorrow."

"Me too," Hermione responded, relieved that Harry would not be disappearing off the face of the earth and she need not deliver her news in a rush, "shall we go together? I'd feel more comfortable, and certainly less likely to be ambushed if you were with me."

"Are you sure you're well enough to go out? Don't force yourself if you need to rest more."

"I'm fine, Harry, it's nothing to worry about. It'll sort itself out. You know I'd tell you if there was anything seriously wrong with me."

He breathed a sigh of relief, "Alright. I'll come by with Teddy and pick you up tomorrow but I've got to get back now, sorry 'Mione. I left him with Madam Rosmerta when I saw McGonagall's patronus."

With a sound kiss on her hair and a promise to return the next day, Harry walked out of the hospital wing where he had spent a significant amount of time during his school years and he hoped fervently that he wouldn't have to sprint up to the castle the way he had when the Headmistress called him because Hermione had fainted on her. It still nigged at the back of his mind while he walked down to the school gates that Hermione had not divulged what had caused her to pass out, but a small voice - he liked to think of it as his mother's voice - instructed him to trust the woman who had been his closest friend for over a decade and let her tell him in her own time.


	6. CHAPTER V

**Author's Note:** I apologise wholeheartedly and once more for the delay in posting this chapter, but I anticipated that it would be tricky to write and I am desperate to achieve a very precise tone for this chapter as it is the most pivotal chapter in _A Great Deal of Bravery_. Thank you so much, everyone, for the support that has been shown for this story. It's blown my mind! Enjoy this chapter and keep on telling me your thoughts. We're just over halfway to the end!

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

* * *

"Finally, you two are here!" Ginny Weasley's sharp voice screeched at her boyfriend and Hermione as they arrived at the Burrow.

"Sorry, Gin," Harry apologised, a mite irritated at the overreaction to their twenty minute tardiness, "Teddy wouldn't settle to apparate."

"Don't worry about it, dear," Mrs Weasley piped up, "Ginny's just been missing you is all. Come and sit down, both of you, and give me the little one for a cuddle. Lunch will be ready soon."

Harry nodded curtly and handed off his sleeping charge to the older woman careful not to rouse him.

"Is that them? Are they here?"

Hermione managed a gentle smile as she heard her boyfriend's voice thunder from upstairs.

"Yes, Ron, we're here!" Harry called back just before Ginny took advantage of Teddy's absence and launched herself into his ill-prepared arms.

The redhead bounded downstairs and enveloped Hermione in his arms, picking her up and swinging her round whilst peppering her face in kisses.

"Put me down please, Ron, I'm getting dizzy." Hermione requested breathlessly, wishing that she could have told her boyfriend about her new...situation so that his treatment of her could have been less boisterous, but that would be like opening the doors to her own personal brand of hell.

Harry saw the colour drain slightly from his best friend's face and wished she'd have stayed in the hospital wing or at least at the castle. He knew how stressed they both were about this social engagement with the Weasley clan and with her recent indisposition that was still an enigma to him, he was worried for her.

"Let me get you some water, 'Mione." Harry offered, shooting her a knowing and concerned glare.

She nodded in thanks and sat down while she regained her breath and colour. It was all Hermione could do to keep her cool and not blurt out her news to the room and land both her and Harry in deep shit.

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said to her retreating confidant before turning to Ron, "so how are you getting on? I've missed you."

At her last words, Ron seemed to brighten up. He said giddily, "Great! Life's so much better now. Every day is amazing. I read Quidditch magazines, I hang out with Ginny, I swap ideas for jokes with George, I even helped Fleur pick out stuff for the baby the other day. Life is sweet!"

Hermione smiled, "So, have you thought about work or what you're going to do now?"

She tried not to pose her question so as to offend her fiery friend but as he reeled off his activities, it was impossible for her not to make comparisons. She had been so snowed under by the castle restoration and preparation to teach the school's entire Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum despite having skipped her final year of formal education that she hadn't even had time to read a leisure periodical or visit her friends, even Harry, who resided a stone's throw away. It was dawning on her that the split that was nearing every day between her and Ron would have occurred without the impediment of the child thriving in her womb. Her life blossomed on hard work and study and purpose. Ronald's appeared to flourish with easy living and recreation. They were too different.

"No, not really. It's still too soon after Fred to think about moving away for me and we're doing alright out of my Ministry stipend, WWW and Fred's death allowance. I'll probably end up helping out with George at the shop further down the line but after spending a year in a sodding tent saving the world with you and Harry, I just need some R&R."

Hermione had to bite her tongue at his ludicrous statements and actually thanked Merlin, Nimuë and Zeus that this unambitious, idle, aimless twit was not the father of her unborn child. All that had to be done was to work out how on earth she was going to make the cut separating her and Ron.

"Here you go, 'Mione." Harry said, interrupting her reverie as he presented her with a tumbler of water.

No sooner had she taken a much needed sip, Molly called everyone to the table for lunch. The spread she had laid out was vast. It was a lunch for a king and all his court. There were succulent meats to choose from, potatoes cooked five different ways, fragrant steamed vegetables and piping hot gravies to top things off atop the table. Hermione had never seen such a spread outside Hogwarts and certainly not for six (and a half, if Teddy woke up) people.

"This looks divine, Mrs Weasley, thank you." Harry complimented.

Ron could barely speak as his mouth was already full before his arse made contact with the chair between Harry and Hermione. Yet the rest of the table nodded and spoke their assent.

"So, what have you children got planned for after lunch?" Arthur asked innocently.

"I have to get Teddy home, I'm afraid."

"I need to get back to the castle and do some research." Harry and Hermione replied together.

"No, come on, you two," Ginny whined, "you haven't seen us in _months_ and then you're going to run away straight after eating. I don't think so, Mr. Potter, and I'm sure my brother would say the same to you, Miss Granger, if his mouth was free!"

Both non-Weasleys grimaced at her condescension but Harry said, "I'm sure we can stick around for a bit, but we cannot stay long."

"I can't wait until we can all be close again, like it used to be. I can't wait to start school again. I can visit you all the time then, Harry. Then, after I graduate, I'll be a proper godmother to Teddy once we're married."

Though Harry had infinitely better table manners than his friend, Ginny's out-of-the-blue statement had him spewing his roast beef and potatoes. They had only really been together since the battle's end and even then, Harry was certain he could count the days they had spent as a couple on one hand. Now, the crazy girl was talking about marriage and parenthood in the same breath with him?

Before Harry had the opportunity to swallow what remained of his food after claiming a bite of beef went the wrong way, Molly Weasley added her two pence to the 'discussion'.

"I'm glad you're going to finish school, dear, and you'll make such a good mother to Teddy...and, of course, any little Potters that come afterwards."

Ginny beamed at the prospect, "I know. We want to have children soon. Harry's never really had a proper family and we want one soon so we can have maybe four or five children. I mean, he's got Teddy for now, but he's not a Potter and he won't be ours, we want our own children and it's going to be amazing being a stay-at-home mum. It'll be like all our dreams come true, and after we fought so hard and suffered through Riddle, I think Harry and I deserve it."

While Ron, Arthur and Molly were nodding along to the youngest Weasley's absurd statements, Harry and Hermione had stopped eating and were spellbound by Ginny's words. The object of her desire was wondering what was going through the young witch's mind that with barely any time spent together or discussion with him, she had dismissed his godson while insinuating herself in his life as his godmother and planned out the next fifteen or twenty years of their lives together. It was nigh on psychotic. The mother of his child was wondering what exactly had happened between Harry and Ginny to put such dreams in her head. Harry had led her to believe that he did not anticipate his relationship with Ginny lasting much longer than hers and Ron's would and yet, here Ginny was utterly in love with a future as Mrs and Mother Potter.

"That'd be cool. You and 'Mione could keep each other company then. With my Ministry pay for being instrumental in defeating Voldemort, along with hers of course, we don't have to work so she'll be at home with our children too. Wouldn't it be cool if we all had a double wedding and then our children all ended up in the same years at Hogwarts together?"

Hermione physically balked at her own boyfriend's addition to the great plan. Not work? Stay at home and just look after children and cook his meals and tidy after him as he lazed about all day? No, that was not her life and it never would be but in her worst nightmares now.

Mrs Weasley, naturally, had a reply to her son as well, "That would be lovely and the papers would make a double wedding such an occasion too. That could bring in a tidy sum for all of you too. Ron, you would live here with Hermione and your children, though, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I reckon, Hermione will need help with the first couple. Children have never really been her thing. That's more books and homework. Golly, our kids will be smart and athletic - what a combo!" The buffoon guffawed.

As everyone with red hair grinned like clowns and congratulated them on painting the picture of a future that satisfied all, Harry and Hermione seethed, unable to see the same loathing in the other or console each other, separated as they were by Ron.

"If the lot of you have quite finished," Hermione smouldered, her vibrant brown eyes simmering with implausible choler, "can I have just a small say in my own future? Or is that too much to ask?"

"Course, love," Ron responded offhandedly, "don't know why you had to ask though."

"Then let me clear that up for you as well while I'm at it, Ronald," she spat, her usually silken voice dripping with venom as she stood up, throwing her napkin down into her plate of food, "because I have to ask to give my own opinion because whilst you, your sister and your mother have been spouting off about what the future holds for me - and Harry, though I will pay him a courtesy none of you have paid either of us and I won't speak for him - none of you asked our opinions and I know for a fact neither of us gave you and Ginny the impression that the life you've just envisioned is what we see for ourselves. So what? You all are just expecting us to play along quietly and sacrifice our lives, which we earned in war and battle, for the rubbish you want. Let me disabuse you of your notions this minute and make myself _perfectly_ clear. I will not be marrying you now, or at any time in my life, Ronald Weasley. I will never be your wife or your fiancée and let me tell you now, in front of witnesses, that as of this moment, I'm not even your girlfriend and shan't be ever again! I cannot believe you know me so little as to think I would ever quit my job or not work for a living and be content to stay at home and be a housewife, and a housewife in another woman's home, no less! Do you think I have no pride or sense of self? _I_ am the only one who has a say in how I lead my life or what my future holds. Because I am Hermione Jean Granger. Learn what that means, you utter wanker, and once you have, find someone to love who has nothing in common with me and you'll have your perfect woman because over the past few months but especially the last few minutes, it's become clear to me that I am not the perfect woman or even a decent woman for you to spend your life with!"

After her rant and losing her breath in her temper, Hermione collapsed into her seat and tried to calm down, forgetting that getting herself riled up did have consequences now...consequences that she did not want to face.

"Oh, and by the way," she continued callously from her seat as everyone looked at her with wide eyes, "I'm pregnant."

"But how? We haven't slept together yet!" Ron bellowed.

"I should have thought that that would answer your question. I slept with someone else and I'm now carrying another man's child. Another reason we cannot be together."

"Whose is it?"

Hermione sighed, unwilling to land her best friend and only ally in the room in deep shit, "It doesn't matter. You don't know him."

In other circumstances, she might have felt guilty for the lie, but upon hearing the Weasley's ideas of their future, Hermione thought it entirely true that none of the family knew Harry, not really and certainly not in the way that mattered.

"You cheating, adulterous, slutty, no-good, conniving, manipulative whore," Molly screeched at her, "how _dare_ you sit at my table and eat my food and insult our family, all the while being knocked up by some other man! Get out!"

"Gladly." Hermione replied, rising wholly resigned and completely willing to quit the Burrow and never look back.

"Stop!" A strong male voice called out just as Hermione was about to push her chair under the table.

Harry rose, and for the first time since Ginny had started imagining their future together out loud, he met Hermione's eyes. He asked her a question then, one he was desperate to have answered since she uttered the words "I'm pregnant". When he caught the subtle nod, a thousand, overwhelming emotions coursed through his brain, every synapse in his head straining to keep up. He didn't know how long he remained speechless, but finding out his firstborn was in being and part him, part Hermione was more than he could process.

"I was part of that 'discussion' if you can call it that, so I believe my thoughts are long overdue too. Firstly, I apologise for what I am about to say right after Hermione's words but I that is only for the moment I have chosen to speak, _not_ for the things I'm saying. I am not going to be a part of this family either. You have long treated me, us, as if we were and it was never your right to do so. Hermione and I were orphaned by the fight against Voldemort and it was never your place to decide our futures for us in pride of place. I first let you do so when Sirius let the Order use Grimmauld Place and I should have spoken up then, but I was weaker than I am now. Ginny, what you've been planning is completely mental. I have never given you any indication that I want any of the rubbish you've been spouting! I am completely happy with my life as Teddy's godfather and should I ever find the right woman for me, I'll be stoked but it is not you. Not with the way you talk about Teddy or what I want in life. I'm sorry you'll never have the celebrity of being Mrs Potter but I hope you find that life you dream about with someone else who wants it too. Now, you and Ron please stop claiming you fought hard through the war and were 'instrumental' in the war effort. Let's be honest. It is an insult to myself and Hermione. Ron, you abandoned us for your mother's cooking in the middle of nowhere and basically left us to die. Ginny, you simply weren't there, through no fault of your own, but that changes nothing. Oh, and one more thing, before I escort Hermione and take Teddy home. If I see it in the Daily Prophet or any other publication or media that you have been riding on my or Hermione's coattails and taking more than is your due for your deeds in the war, I'll have you up on charges in front of the Wizengamot!"

Harry then kicked out his chair and went to fetch Teddy from where he was surprisingly still fast asleep in his nest of pillows on the sofa before taking Hermione's hand and pulling the three of them out of the Burrow for the last time, leaving four stunned and furious Weasleys in their wake.


	7. CHAPTER VI

**Author's Note:** To commence Chapter VI, I would like to deal with a matter of semantics that has arisen from a review posted by 'Goose' (" _You said exaggerated Weasleys...that's just another way of saying Weasley bashing_ "). As I read a lot of stories that are Hermione with other male characters excepting Ron, I see a lot of stories which are labelled as Weasley bashing. The opinion I have regarding that term is that it features Weasley characters that are actively evil or conspiring against Harry/Hermione. In this story, the Weasleys are not malicious or driven by spite. They are caricatures of Rowling's Weasleys: Ron who is jealous of Harry and obtuse; Ginny who fell in love with The Boy Who Lived before she met him; Molly who will do anything for her offspring's happiness. Therefore, I defend my nomenclature of this story and I just invite Harry Potter fanfiction readership in general to be more discerning when applying terms so that everyone reads the type of stories they're expecting.

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

* * *

As Hermione, Harry and Teddy smoothly landed in Harry's front garden in Hogsmeade, the world seemed to shudder along with their bodies as they hit a time and place where they had severed all ties with their surrogate family. True, they were overbearing, presumptuous and self-involved to a fault but neither could forget that the family was the first Harry had met in the strange wizarding world as an innocent eleven year old or that the Weasleys had taken her in when she could not return to her non-magical home.

"Come in, 'Mione," Harry eventually sighed, "I think we've got something to discuss."

Hermione balked at the accusation in his voice but nodded and followed him into the the living room of his cottage. She rested her hand on her still-flat belly as if seeking some form of strength from the child whose father was about to interrogate her.

"So that's what it was all about? That fainting spell with McGonagall and hiding the truth from me?"

Harry turned away from Teddy's play area and shot daggers into his best friend's auburn eyes. He knew the child was his. There was no doubt. Hermione was not the type to sleep around or whore herself out for simply physical pleasures, no matter what the Weasleys believed of her. Besides, with the timing of their tryst at her parents' old house, it fit that she could be in the early stages of pregnancy since they had lost their virginities together. The sight of her petting her stomach that greeted him as he looked towards her made something quicken in him: the knowledge that she was the mother of his child and she was his family now and would be forever.

Hermione nodded, unable to form words as her mind was engaged in an attempt to analyse the intensity behind Harry's glare.

"So, though I know the answer to this already, I do feel that the question needs to be asked anyway. Is the baby mine?" Harry asked, his voice serene and unyielding to the tumult within him.

"Yes."

The pair of them let out breaths together that neither realised they were holding in. Just the admission of the unborn baby's parentage lifted the tremendous burden from both of their shoulders. Now, it was just a matter of deciding how they were going to proceed.

"What do you intend to do? Are you going to keep it?" Harry asked, fully desirous of hearing her plans for their child as she had the benefit of longer to think about it.

"Of course! How could you ask such a thing of me?" Hermione roared at him, unable to consider terminating a life that was already more precious than all the gold in Harry's vault to her.

"I didn't ask because I thought you might...God, Hermione, I can't even say it! I just wanted to hear if you had planned anything. I mean, I found out _accidentally_ , because you wanted to get one up on your ex-boyfriend! You didn't even tell me yourself. Were you ever going to tell me?"

Hermione sobbed and descended to the floor to hug her knees about her belly, "Oh, I'm sorry. I am so sorry, Harry. I didn't know how to tell you yesterday. I just couldn't find the words. I was actually planning to tell you after lunch today, but when Ron and Ginny said what they did, hormones just got the better of me. This baby wasn't planned or expected but I want it. I already love our child."

"So do I. I want to be a father to it, 'Mione. It's why I want to know what - or if - you've planned. Are you still taking up your professorship? Is it wise? I can't bear to think of our child being injured because of a stray spell, sweetheart."

And there it was - everything Hermione had hoped for since she learned she was expecting - Harry's care for her and their child's future.

"I am going to. The one thing I did have time to research while I was in the hospital wing was protective charms for babies. There is one that I can cast that will safeguard the child from any magic except Unforgivables, but I am not about to go off chasing errant Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Anyway, I want to teach and I'm ready."

Harry nodded, accepting the provisions she proposed to make to protect their child, "Then please consider this. Move in here with Teddy and me. I know we didn't plan to conceive but I can't lie. I am happy you're pregnant and that I'm going to have a son or daughter. I want to be a family and I know we're not in love and we've done everything in an odd order, but we can make this work, I know we can."

Hermione witnessed the hope in Harry's emerald eyes, eyes that had known pain, sorrow, fear, anger but never true love. She could not give him that vision yet of herself but she saw the longing those eyes had to see it in the child resting in her womb. That she could give him. She could quite contentedly live with him and Teddy and divide her time between Hogsmeade and the castle.

"I'll come and live here," Hermione replied, a demure smile turning up the corners of her lips, "and we'll make a go of it, but I am not coming back to bed with you, Harry. I will come back and help you with Teddy, getting ready for our child and whatever else but I do not want you to misunderstand me. I am not coming to live with you in the hope that we sleep together again or have a romantic relationship."

Harry smiled, ecstatic that she had granted his wish for them to cohabitate so readily. He acknowledged to himself privately that he did envision a future for Hermione as his lover since finding out that she was mother to his child but he would not rush her nor plan her decisions or feelings for her. He would not make the same mistake as Ron and Ginny had with both of them. For, if he lost her, he would also lose part of his son or daughter. He had no doubt that should the unlikely event of them falling out occur, Hermione could not be so cruel and vindictive as to separate him from his child, but they would not be a proper family in that case. No, he would not rush her. They had already been rushed into parenthood by their own thoughtless actions, but Gryffindor-willing, feelings of love and lust would rise up again with time.

"I won't force you or pressure you, 'Mione. I am truly glad that you want to come and live with me in this madhouse. Don't hope that we sleep together or fall in love, don't have any sense of that pressure. Just come and stay and allow the future to make our choices, for you know that I will never push you into anything you don't want with all your heart. I want to be your partner, in parenthood, in raising Teddy, in living together here, not your tyrant."


	8. CHAPTER VII

**Author's Note:** I deeply apologise for the lengthy and nigh-on unforgivable delay in the gap between this chapter and its precedent. I fell out of love with writing for a long time and haven't done any writing so it's not personal at all to this story. Thank you so much, however, to those of you who reviewed, favourited and followed this story in spite of the hiatus. It is what motivated me to get off my proverbial literary arse and finish this story, which has annoyed me to no end, because it is over halfway done and it would not take much on my part to finish my product. I will say that there is a time jump here and I suspect it's going to split the 'fan base' for _A Great Deal of Bravery_ as this story was not meant to be some great epic like some of my others but instead is just a small smut and fluff piece about two lost souls finding and making their own family. So reviews still welcome and appreciated, and expected if the remainder of this story does not meet with expectation! Happy further reading - have no fear - the end will come!

DAENERYSTARGARY3N

* * *

 _A Saturday Afternoon Nine Months Later..._

"Hermione, are you quite sure you should remain in the village? I worry for you, dear." Minerva remarked from the hearth in the cottage's salon, "It's not safe or wise for you to be there alone with Teddy."

The young woman sitting in a sage green armchair conversing with her mentor and employer whose stern but concerned visage peered at her through the flames in her fireplace, looked down with a serene smile, her burgeoning belly proudly protruding from her midriff.

"It's not safe for you, Hermione, and you know I've always said that when Potter's away you can bring the boy to the guest quarters in the school and stay there, where we can keep an eye on you and help out. You know as well how much everyone here dotes on Teddy."

Hermione chuckled at that last statement. It was true that when Harry had brought Teddy up to the castle on occasion to visit her throughout her pregnancy all the professors and some of the students were enchanted with the boy who could morph his features on command and whose natural button nose (inherited from his mother) made him a cherub to be cuddled and cherished excessively. He adored visiting Hogwarts, despite its sordid history as the place his parents were savagely taken from him. She still couldn't forget his first encounter at Hogwarts with its gamekeeper.

"Thank you, Minerva," Hermione said, patting her belly contentedly, "I appreciate the offer, as you know, but I'm quite safe here. My wand is never far away so I can call if I need assistance and I'm not due to give birth for another week, by which time Harry should be back. Merlin knows, I'll send him to live at Hogwarts if he isn't! I can't actually believe they made him go to bloody Tangier out of the blue like that just for overseas pursuit training. He was so torn about leaving, Minerva, it was awful. It was like when he used to have to return to the Dursleys every summer. He told my bump that it had still better be there when he gets back and told me to hold my knees together at all times for Morgana's sake! It's the one part of refusing to be fast-tracked he loathes. He's contactable, though, by patronus, should the bump decide to make an early disappearance."

"Very well. It's your decision. I won't pressure you further, or kidnap you, though the thought had occurred to me. Besides, I suspect the problems with Teddy last time he spent the night at the castle have something to do with your wanting to stay at the cottage." Minerva acquiesced.

Hermione's mind went back four months to Teddy's illness. The poor boy had caught Scrofungulus from a playmate. Scrofungulus, while being highly contagious, was merely inconvenient for a healthy adult but to a small child, who also happened to possess a latent werewolf gene (to complicate matters further) and a pregnant woman, the disease was fraught with danger. To be in reach of Madam Pomfrey while avoiding sick and injured pupils, Minerva had allowed Teddy to spend his illness and subsequent quarantine (to protect Hermione) in seclusion with Harry in one of the castle's many guest suites. During the quarantine period, when he wasn't delirious with fever, Teddy experienced night terrors and would not eat or drink or do anything a normal boy would. She could not even see him or Harry when she was up at the castle to teach. It had driven Harry to distraction and Hermione to tears, stuck as she was in the village beneath the castle. Hermione's entire form shuddered. Some nights she was still sure she remembered hearing the cries of the boy she considered as a son, who had screamed until his vocal cords were damaged for five nights.

"I'll admit it did. I have no wish to relive that nightmare." Hermione murmured, glancing to her left where Teddy was snoring softly taking his afternoon nap on the sofa.

Harry had been a wreck when he had brought Teddy home. He had not slept and Teddy would be held by no one but him, although screams for Miney were plentiful. He got Teddy in the door and thereupon succumbed to his own exhaustion while Hermione hugged the boy and pointed him to the ice cream on the table. Hermione had levitated Harry to bed and nursed him through the fever and migraines that plagued him and would not be assuaged by potion or pill. Hermione and Harry had grown closer - if that was even possible - through his infirmity. Hermione had more than once during that time fancied herself in love with the father of her unborn child despite her warnings before she moved into the cottage, yet after a surprise kiss when he rose again from his bed well again, she wondered constantly if he felt any differently towards the mother of his child and if maybe 'sweetheart' would change to something more...

"Alright. I'll leave you to rest while you can. Keep your wand with you and I'm only a patronus away for a chat, a visit, whatever you need, dear." McGonagall said with a content smile as she disappeared from view getting a grateful nod from her defence professor.

Hermione felt her wand clutched comfortingly in its holster just as she drifted off to sleep in the remnant heat from the warm fire listening to Teddy sleep as he would for the next hour or so.

When she found herself waking, it was not to a tug on her tunic as Teddy was wont to do to rouse her for playtime or to a floo call or to Harry returning, it was to a spasm in her lower belly that was felt all the way up her spine and in the very centre of her heart.

"Oh, hell! Braxton Hicks had better be a thing with magical pregnancies as well…" Hermione cursed, pressing a hand to her distressed womb.

Hermione breathed through the rapid contraction and looked over at her only company who was still fast asleep clinging to his knitted blanket from his grandma.

Retrieving her wand from his holster on her left calf, she pointed it at Teddy and murmured, " _Dormeo_."

The sleeping spell effectively left Teddy in a vegetative state. He would lie completely immobile on the couch, still breathing, still dreaming, still blissfully unaware of his guardian's pain and later screams but removable with a counterspell and safe for a child.

As the labouring mother fought past the pain of another contraction, she tried with all her might to recall her exact emotions and joy she felt when Teddy crawled into her bed one night wanting to be comforted by her presence and hers alone. She remembered how natural and beautiful he felt in her embrace and how it made her feel ready to be mother to the child pressing to come into the world.

" _Expecto patronum!"_ Hermione bellowed, relishing the freedom to exclaim now Teddy would not be disturbed.

Hermione expected to be presented with her usual spectral otter but was shocked on another front as a wispy lioness who roared on arrival. She took a brief moment to inspect her new patronus and wondered at its alteration but when a new contraction hit with three times the intensity of the last, the time for musing proclaimed itself over.

"Well, here goes," Hermione groaned, still reeling, "go to Minerva and Harry and tell them the baby is on its way and to get here. You can also tell Harry that I forgot to nap with my knees glued together."

Hermione could not resist smiling at her capacity for wit in dangerous situations but when another contraction ripped through her nervous system, she sank onto the carpet before the fire and panted through the agony.

While she waited for someone to make their appearance, she experienced three contractions in under ten minutes. That felt unusual given what the witch had read and it plagued her mind to no end while she was in solitude. It had already been thirty minutes by the time she looked at the mantle clock and that was far longer than she thought it would take either of the two to reach her.

Suddenly, a burst of green flame erupted from her fireplace and she let go of the held breath she didn't know she was holding when two bodies emerged.

"Oh, thank Nimuë!" Hermione moaned as she recognised Minerva and Poppy.

"Hermione?! We're so sorry we took so long. I thought your patronus was an otter and it took a moment to gather myself when I understood your message, then I went for Poppy." Minerva exclaimed upon finding her Defence professor and most prized former pupil on the floor before her.

"Alright, m'dear," Poppy said, kneeling beside her patient, "let's see where we are. No Mr. Potter yet? I'm sure he's not far behind us. And young Master Lupin sleeping under a _dormeo_ spell, I assume? Good, good. Well done, Hermione. Now, let's get you up and into your bed so we can deal with the matter at hand."

Just as Hermione was about to respond to the School Matron, another contraction seared through her and she screamed as Poppy and Minerva hooked an arm under each of hers and escorted her upstairs to her bedroom.

She was settled onto her clean and crisp Egyptian cotton sheets that felt like ice to her clammy body and as Minerva took up her station at Hermione's head and clasped her hand firmly in support, Poppy disrobed Hermione's lower half and covered her modesty.

"Right, this is progressing a mite faster than I would have anticipated," Poppy pronounced, waving her wand fluidly over Hermione's distended belly, "but that's not a problem. Just means the little ones are keen to meet their mother."

"Little ones?"

Poppy's brow furled, "I take it you know you have been carrying twins for the past nine months, Mistress Granger…."

Hermione's eyes widened, unable to process the news, for news it was to the mother-to-be. She had seen a Healer at St. Mungo's at the beginning of her pregnancy but had not returned as there had been no complications and she had read up on prenatal spells, potions and procedure. Also, she and Harry had agreed not to find out the gender of their child - or children as it now stood - so there was no need to explore her womb further.

Minerva saw her protégée's expression change from confusion to shock to shame to exasperation to fear in less than thirty seconds and looked at her long-time friend and colleague, "I would take Mistress Granger's expression to mean 'no', Poppy."

"Indeed."

Hermione rallied and mumbled to her companions, "Well, typical, isn't it? If anyone would be surprised by twins as they come into the world it would be Harry and me. I can't believe he's gone and put two in me! Stupid Harry blasted James sodding Potter, always causing me so much trouble! I - oh, Merlin's BALLS!"

Before Hermione could conclude her tirade, a contraction more violent and quick to fall engulfed her. She gripped Minerva's hand in her vice-like grip and roared her way through the pain, pushing with all her might.

Madam Pomfrey checked her condition as she worked and seeing a crowning head, was certain that the first of the Potter-Granger twins was close at hand.

"Hermione, one more push and your eldest child will be in your arms. On your next contraction, give it all you've got."

Just as Minerva prepared to help her charge deliver her first child, all three adults heard the fireplace spring to life downstairs.

"Harry?" Hermione wailed, the relief at having him there drowning out the pain.

"Hermione! I'm here! I'm coming!" Harry called as he bounded up the stairs.

The three witches assembled around Hermione's childbed recoiled when Harry burst through the bedroom door in a cloud of dust and dirt, covered in perspiration and sporting cuts on both his arms.

Without words, Poppy cleaned and superficially healed the cuts on the young man's arms before he reached Hermione's side. He kissed her upon her brow and took her free hand.

"I'm here, 'Mione, I'm here. I'm sorry I'm late."

Poppy smiled at the pair and watched as Hermione squeezed Harry's hand in forgiveness and relief at his presence.

"Now, let's get these babies born, shall we? Now that everyone's present!"

Harry nodded before frowning, "Wait, babies? Hermione, what's she talking about?"

"We're having…" Hermione was cut off by her next contraction and the urge to push.

"Push, Hermione! You're nearly there" Minerva encouraged.

"And…it's a boy." Poppy exclaimed as she caught the infant.

"Twins. Harry, we're having twins." Hermione finished as the contraction passed.

"Bloody hell." Harry stammered, his eyes flitting between Hermione and his son. "How mad at me are you?"

Hermione chuckled shallowly, "Right now, not at all - I'm grateful. When I found out - I was livid."

Harry grinned and kissed her hand.

"Here's your boy, Mr. Potter," Poppy said, handing Harry a swaddled baby in a knitted gold blanket, "you might as well hold him while we deliver the next one."

"How long have I got?" Hermione asked.

"I suspect about three to four minutes."

"I don't think so...I think this one misses its brother." Hermione panted, feeling the pains commence again.

"You've never done things the easy way, Miss Granger, why start now?" Minerva mumbled, feeling a slight crack in her hand.

"I have - it's whenever I'm with this twat that things never go my way!" Hermione bellowed.

Harry sat by holding his squealing son, truly flabbergasted by the words coming out of Hermione's mouth. He had never heard her speak like that about him...ever.

Minerva leaned round Hermione and said, "You should have heard what she said ten minutes ago before you got here. I'll give you the memory as a gift."

"Thanks...I think!"

"Right, Hermione," Poppy interrupted, you've got one more push to give and then you're done."

"Headmistress, would you hold him?" Harry asked, holding out his son. "I'd like to do this with Hermione."

"Naturally." Minerva acquiesced, gathering the child to her.

Harry sat behind Hermione, propping her up against his muscular chest and whispered in her ear, "We made these two so we're in this together. I know this isn't what either of us planned but I'm glad we're here and we're going to be parents to amazing children. I know I'm always getting you into difficult situations, you're absolutely right, I've made your life ten times harder than it ever needed to be or should have been. For me and with me, you've had to tackle a magical obstacle course, been petrified, been chased by a werewolf and a swarm of dementors, stuck by me and helped me through the Triwizard Tournament, been cursed by Death Eaters when you were right, we shouldn't have gone, followed me into the wilderness with no plan or clue what I was doing, saved my life so often I've lost count even when your own life was at risk. Now, I'm sorry your life has been complicated by everything we've been through, but I'm not sorry you were with me or that we were together all that time because you are my best friend and the mother of my children and I wouldn't have that any other way. Now, let's have our next adventure, sweetheart."

The women were transfixed by Harry's speech: Poppy's bottom lip had fallen, Minerva's eyes were tearing and Hermione's breathing eased.

Only when Hermione grabbed her belly and screamed did all return to the task at hand. Poppy ducked beneath the coverlet and told Hermione that she had to push now or Poppy would have to pull the child out to protect its ability to breathe.

"Come on, 'Mione. Let's do this." Harry murmured.

As her contraction progressed, Harry put his hands above Hermione's and both pushed to bring their child into Poppy's waiting hands. Only when a shrill cry rang out did the new parents fall back into each other's embrace.

"Well, Madam Pomfrey, what is it?" Hermione panted.

"You have a gorgeous, healthy baby girl." Poppy reported, placing the newborn in her mother's expectant arms.

"I'll have him back, Minerva, please." Harry said to the Headmistress, longing to hold his son.

"Congratulations, you two! And as always, Hermione," Minerva praised, fighting tears, "outstanding work."

Poppy cleaned Hermione up and retreated from her lower half, "Well, I'm done here and they're perfect, so we'll get out of your hair. Congratulations, both, you will make splendid parents. Though when they're of age to attend Hogwarts, let me know and I'll retire. You two have given me enough grief throughout your school years, I can't begin to imagine what havoc children with both of your genes will wreak."

With a surprising wink that made Harry and Hermione giggle hysterically, the older witches withdrew, leaving the new parents with their twins.

"What are we going to do about names, 'Mione?" Harry asked.

"Well we planned for either a boy or a girl and I had a name for a boy and a middle name for a girl."

Harry smiled, "Then we get to use my middle name for a boy and my name for a girl."

Hermione laughed, "I agree to your terms, Harry. So, our son's name is...James."

"James Sirius Potter." Harry grinned, staring down at the baby in his embrace. "And our daughter is called Lily."

"Lily Minerva Potter." Hermione cooed, beaming in wonderment at her daughter.


End file.
